Francisco de Melo

Dom Francisco de Melo (1597-18 December 1651) was a general of the Spanish Army.

Biography
Born in Estremoz, Portugal, de Melo served as Spain's Ambassador to Genoa from 1632 to 1636. In 1638 he was made Viceroy of Sicily and became an envoy of Spain to the Holy Roman Empire in 1640.

De Melo first commanded troops in the invasion of France from the Spanish Netherlands during the Thirty Years' War, winning the Battle of Honnecourt in 1642. However, his victory was overshadowed by the major defeat of the tercios at the Battle of Rocroi a year later, where Louis de Conde defeated his men by using cannon and arquebusiers to pulverize the tightly-packed pikeman squares. He retired in 1645 and died in 1651 in Madrid.